About the Artist
Jeremy Melton makes choices in source material that are dictated by art history, literature, stories, and encounters he finds personally engaging. His desire is to create abstract works that are extremely self-aware and that have a history and identity wrapped within their code.
Jeremy's work addresses what it means to be a gay artist: the signifiers and obligations that are part of this identity. It examines perceptions and stereotypes and is torn between the secrecy of the past and the freedom of the present. He is currently exploring the rooms of a house as visual metaphors for issues in gay culture: Taste, aspiration, marriage, monogamy, parenthood, and stereotypes are particular points of interest.
In this latest body of work, paintings of domestic interiors use coded symbols and color that focus specifically on the dynamics of relationships. Sleek, simple, and minimally designed furniture act as stand-ins for the figure. The domestic setting is a stage to simplify and examine relationships. While his work may directly address gay relationships, these domestic interiors allow for all viewers, regardless of sexual preference, to identify with the similarities in all interpersonal relationships.
Melton received an MFA in painting from the Rhode Island School of Design in 2006.
